08:55 - 09:30 - Keynote

Leadership & Workforce Development

Increasing People Engagement through Coaching, Mentoring and Empowerment

In today’s manufacturing environment, companies aspire to be free of safety and quality incidents while mastering performance. To achieve this, it is necessary for companies to develop their team members through effective coaching and mentoring to ensure that all members understand the path to success. At Nestlé, we have accelerated this journey by leveraging Nestlé Continuous Excellence (NCE) which is our way of engaging the hearts and minds of our people in a consumer driven war on waste. Since the launch of Nestlé Continuous Excellence in 2008, Nestlé has increased people engagement through empowerment and by involving our people in support of creating value for the end consumer. While Nestlé Continuous Excellence has been beneficial to all employees, it has had a big impact on employees within manufacturing.

12:20 - 12:25

Please Move to your Next Session

12:25 - 13:00 - Case Studies

Leadership & Workforce Development

Change Management: Managing Change at the Top

A full change of the leadership team impacting on people, processes and government

Future Technologies & IoT

Advanced Manufacturing Initiatives in the US

“Public-Private Partnerships” between various branches of the USG and collaborative consortium based teams made up of companies, universities, and state and local governments are paving the way forward for advanced manufacturing in the US

Since launching in 2012, the USG has pledged over $1 Billion and the various consortiums of Industry/University/State & local government teams have pledged over $2 Billion to do advanced manufacturing research in the Technology Readiness Levels “TRL 4 to 7”

Over 1,300 companies, universities, and non-profits, scattered over 44 states, are participating

17:40 - 17:45

Chair’s Closing Remarks

17:45 - 18:45

Evening Drinks Reception

19:00 - 22:00

American Manufacturing Leadership Award 2017 – Gala Dinner

The American Manufacturing Leadership Award 2017 will be presented to Jose Miguel L. Ascaso, the Vice President of Manufacturing Excellence at Johnson Controls during an unforgettable evening at the Riverwalk Golf Club; San Diego, CA. The award was nominated and voted for by manufacturing industry professionals from all across America, with a nomination, selection and voting process.

Pleaseclick herefor more information on the American Manufacturing Leadership Award 2017.

Delegates are able to purchase tickets for the Awards Dinner on a first-come, first-served basis for $95.

08:50 - 09:25 - Keynote

Leadership & Workforce Development

In order to realize the full benefit of your operations excellence strategy you need committed leaders at every level of the organization. Successful leaders know what makes them successful and they model the right behavior

In this session you will learn why developing leadership is as important as your operations excellence strategy, ideas for an effective leadership development program and how success comes from understanding and practicing your core success principles

Leadership & Workforce Development

It’s Time to Bring Manufacturing Back to America

According to a recent study, 54% of US manufacturers over $1billion in revenue are considering Reshoring some or all of their manufacturing. Manufacturing is essential to rebuilding our middle class and our economy. It’s important for our future and our children’s future. It’s bi-partisan and is on every politician’s agenda to support jobs growth.

But it’s not as easy and you may think, and requires strategy, planning and a commitment to invest in rebalancing your global supply chain. Reshoring will have a significant effect on global procurement, logistics, trade and manufacturing strategies. How will you prepare for this coming evolution? Are you ready?

Why Reshoring is important now

Are jobs really coming back?

The global total cost of ownership

The effect on global procurement and logistics

Call to Action: What you can do to support Reshoring

10:40 - 11:40

iSolve & Networking Refreshments

11:40 - 12:15 - Solution Spotlights

Leadership & Workforce Development

Rising from Crisis: A Semiconductor Company’s Pursuit of Excellence in Operations

Poor cycle times and yields lead to unpredictable delivery and erode confidence in a manufacturing operation. The MAX Group guided a US Semiconductor Company through a rapid recovery process and to position it for growth by ensuring best practices were being deployed in the manufacturing operations.

Results over a 12-month project included:

Output increased by 31%

WIP reduced by 51%

Cycle time reduced by 43%

Line yield improved by 7.9%

Future Technologies & IoT

The Journey to a Smart Manufacturing Future

What is Smart Manufacturing? What is Different?: Building blocks to Smart Manufacturing: IIoT, Cloud, Digital Thread

What does Smart Manufacturing Look Like?: Examples

What to do on the Journey to Smart Manufacturing?: Institutes and Consortia like SMLC and DMDII are leading the way

12:15 - 12:20

Please Move to your Next Session

12:20 - 12:55 - Case Studies

Leadership & Workforce Development

Culture by Design

Every organization, operating company, site, factory, cell and team is a reflection of their leadership, and your leadership is perfectly designed to produce exactly what you have

To create real change in a business we need to first understand what drives the business. The source of power is the people and their behaviors. To change a business you must change people’s behaviors. The sum of these behaviors is the culture. All business results are driven from the behaviors of people. When you change the culture you change the business. Teaching people how to think and act differently is the key

The culture of your business can be your most powerful strategic advantage. The intelligence, goodness and alignment of your people are difficult to replicate. When your employees think and act in alignment to the customer and the business you can’t lose. Businesses who focus on people, and establish values and principles throughout the organization will drive unparalleled success

There are fundamental leadership principles that will drive and empower a continuous improvement culture. We typically are taught the principles and tools of lean but are unfamiliar with the empowering culture component that is driven by leadership principles. These leadership principles coupled with principles of the Toyota Production System form the most powerful combination for business success

This session describes the process and principles for creating the most powerful form of a continuous improvement culture through creating an environment throughout the entire organization where we can make better choices that drive better results

15:10 - 15:45 - Keynote

Leadership & Workforce Development

Manufacturing Your Work Force: A Community Engagement Approach

Ten thousand baby boomers retire each day. Millennials are not focused on careers in manufacturing. Positions for skilled labor are increasing

How do we solve this growing talent acquisition problem?

This presentation offers an evaluation of best practices and some new ideas regarding community engagement and collective impact as a solution to the escalating staffing predicament faced by the manufacturing industry

15:45 - 15:50

Chair’s Closing Remarks

Eric Pope

VP of Operations

US Synthetic

Eric Pope serves as vice president of operations at US Synthetic (USS), a leading provider of diamond solutions for the energy industry. Mr. Pope joined US Synthetic in 1990 as a machine operator, with a focus on processing diamond products. He has worked as a production manager, process engineer, and R&D engineer during his time at US Synthetic. In 2001, Mr. Pope worked as an on-site USS customer engineer at Halliburton. He later became the product manager over the USS diamond rock bit and percussion product lines in 2004.
Throughout his career, Mr. Pope has been a driving force behind US Synthetic’s move from a typical batch and queue manufacturing system to a world-class, lean manufacturing facility. As part the of senior leadership team since 2006, Mr. Pope has been instrumental in implementing lean training and techniques at every level of the organization. These efforts helped the company receive the world’s most prestigious award in 2011 for enterprise excellence, The Shingo Prize. Under Mr. Pope’s leadership, the company maintains a strong focus on empowering employees and encouraging continuous improvement. This focus helped the company implement more than 32,000 employee-sponsored improvements in 2011. As a result, product innovation has increased and USS customers have been better served with improved delivery times, decreased inventory, and superior quality and performance. Lean improvements have allowed US Synthetic to grow at 23 percent annually since beginning the journey in 2005.
Mr. Pope holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering and a Master of Business Administration both from Brigham Young University.

Stephanie Hart

Vice President of Manufacturing

Nestlé USA - Ice Cream

Stephanie Pullings Hart is the Vice President of Manufacturing – Ice Cream, Nestlé US. From January 2013 till March 2016, Stephanie was the Executive Director Technical & Production, Nestlé Australia Ltd. She was responsible for safety, quality, engineering, regulatory & scientific affairs, and manufacturing for Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. Stephanie has been a Nestle employee since 1995 and throughout her career has had roles of increasing responsibility both in manufacturing, research and development and human resources.
Stephanie also worked as the Vice President Operations, Nestlé Nutrition – Jenny Craig from January 2010 to December 2012. Preceding Jenny Craig, Stephanie worked as the Program Director at the Nestlé International Training and Conference Centre located in Vevey, Switzerland where she was responsible for developing, recommending and delivering learning strategies and plans to build competencies for over 1000 Nestlé employees. Stephanie was appointed to the Forum of Young Global Leaders in 2008, an integral part of the World Economic Forum.
In 2005, she received a “40 Under-Forty” achievement award from the Network Journal Magazine in recognition for her professional accomplishments and the impact that she has had on the business industry while actively contributing to the community. Stephanie is a Member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated, a non-profit organization focused on providing assistance to local communities throughout the world and a previous member of the Nestlé Australia and Nestlé New Zealand Board of Directors. She holds an Executive MBA (Benedictine College, USA) and Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering (Florida State University, USA).

John Biedry

Former Senior Director, Global Lean Enterprise

Nike

An executive with progressive leadership responsiblities in manufacturing & service organizations with national and international operations. A high energy change agent with a consistent record of leading breakthrough change and improvement initiatives utilizing lean, six sigma and innovation tools.
John worked as the Senior Director for the Global Lean Enterprise at Nike from 2012 until earlier this year, driving the whole deployment of lean and continuous improvement innovation throughout Nike’s global operations.

Andrew Lux

Vice President

Atricure

Dr. Andrew L. Lux, Ph.D., serves as the Vice President of Manufacturing Operations - Renal Division for Baxter Healthcare. Dr. Lux served as Senior Vice President of Operations and Quality Assurance at AtriCure, Inc. since January 2013 until October 23, 2017. Dr. Lux served as the Chief Executive Officer and President of Enpath Lead Technologies, Inc. (formerly, Lead Technologies). He served as the Chief Operating Officer and Vice President of AtriCure, Inc., since January 16, 2012 until 2013.

Jack Feng

Vice President of Operational Excellence

Commercial Vehicle Group

Jack Feng joined CVG in October 2014 in the new position of Vice President for Operational Excellence.
Before joining CVG, Jack established and held various leadership positions at Caterpillar in Lean Six Sigma, advanced industrial and manufacturing planning and strategic human resources as well as an international assignment to Asia Pacific.
Jack has also served as a tenured Professor of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering at Bradley University and an Assistant Professor of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering at Penn State University. Previously, his consulting company conducted funded projects or provided consulting services to several multinational corporations and government agents.
He serves on the Council of Industrial and Systems Engineering, the Greater Columbus Chinese Chamber of Commerce, the China State Six Sigma Promotion Committee, and the Editorial Board of International Journal of Production Research.
Jack holds Mechanical Engineering bachelor and master’s degrees from Wuhan University of Technology and master’s and doctoral degrees in Industrial and Management Engineering from the University of Iowa.

Jordan Workman

Director of NA & EMEA Client Development

Milliken

Jordan Workman is Director of Client Development for Performance Solutions by Milliken. He works with clients in North America and Europe to help them assess their operational strategies and improve production values. The clients served span a variety of industries including agricultural, medical, automotive, chemical, food and beverage, mining, and specialty plastics.
Prior to joining Performance Solutions by Milliken, Jordan was employed by Owens Corning for almost a decade, where he served as Marketing Director for a global business unit and as Business Development Leader based in China. He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience on bridging cross-cultural differences in the journey to business growth and operational excellence.
Jordan holds a degree in Economics & Political Science from West Virginia University.

Lucia Piedra

Director of Business Liaison

International Metal Source

Coming from a humble beginning Lucia Piedra is the first in four generations to complete her MBA in Business Administration inspiring many to seek more for themselves despite any circumstance or obstacle. She has invested seventeen years of her devoted self to forming strategic partnerships, managing relationships with Fortune 100, Fortune 500 companies and small businesses alike throughout the United States and Mexico.

Alejandro Tassara

Global Director, Luvata Production System

Luvata

Alejandro Tassara is currently the Global Director, Luvata Production System with over 10 years of experience in Operational Excellence and a strong focus on Industrial and Manufacturing Continuous Improvement. He has delivered substantial change in a variety of production sites around the world utilizing Lean techniques in a structured way that emphasizes Performance Management, Standard Work, Team development and Organizational Cultural Change. He is a strong supporter of engaging and empowering people through Personal Coaching and Effective training from shop-floor level personnel to Senior Management. Alejandro holds a BS in Philosophy from Catholic University of Valparaiso, Chile and MA in Organizational Counselling.

Jason Marsh

Director of Technology (CTO)

NextFlex

Jason Marsh is responsible for setting the technical direction of NextFlex, including managing Technical Council activities. Prior to joining NextFlex, Jason worked in Japan, India, Germany, Mexico, Malaysia and China, where he lived between 2003 and 2008, establishing greenfield factories for Kyocera. As Vice President at Insulectro, Jason focused on new materials and supply-chain strategies for the printed circuit board and flexible hybrid electronics industries, focusing on high reliability applications.
Jason studied materials science and robotics at Stanford University, and worked on early versions of 3D printing using ceramics and metals, as well as developed instruments for physics experiments such as Gravity Probe B. He has served on advisory boards and consulted for companies in artificial intelligence, outdoor equipment, solar power, and agriculture.

Ryan King

Director of Operational Excellence

Wabash National Corporation

Ryan King moved into the newly created position of Director of Operation Excellence for Wabash National Corporation in November 2016. He previously served as Director of Engineering and Quality for the Commercial Trailer Products business segment. Since 2006 Ryan has held a number of positions with increasing responsibility in the areas of operations and engineering at Wabash National.
Prior to joining Wabash National, Ryan worked in the power transmission, directional drilling and power generation industries.
He has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University and an MBA from Krannert Business School. He has also participated in general management training at the Booth School of Management from University of Chicago, and Six Sigma Black Belt training through Villanova University.
Ryan lives in West Lafayette, Indiana, with his wife and three children.

Uday Vaidya

Chief Technology Officer

Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation

Uday Vaidya is an expert on the manufacturing and use of fiber reinforced thermoplastic composites.
His research focuses on developing applications for thermoplastics in the military, the housing market, the health care industry, and commercial transportation.
Vaidya holds joint appointments in UT’s Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Biomedical Engineering and at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Ron Dunford

President

Schreiber US

Ron Dunford was President, Schreiber US. He spent over 30 years in the dairy industry with roles in Operations, Sales/Marketing, and General Management. Additionally, Ron is a member of the Schreiber Foods Board of Directors. In the food industry, he is a member of the Board of Directors of the International Dairy Foods Association, and also a member and officer of the Board of Directors of the National Cheese Institute.

William Osborne

Senior Vice President, Global Manufacturing & Quality

Navistar

Mr. William H. Osborne, also known as Bill, has been Senior Vice President of Global Manufacturing and Quality at Navistar International Corporation since May 2013. Mr. Osborne served as Senior Vice President of Custom Products at Navistar, Inc. since April 2011. He served as Chief Executive Officer and President of Federal Signal Corp., an affiliate of Diamond Consulting Services Ltd. from September 2008 to November 1, 2010. He served as the Chief Executive Officer and President of Ford Motor Company of Australia Limited, a subsidiary of Ford Motor Co. from January 2008 to September 2008. Mr. Osborne served as Chief Executive Officer of Ford Motor Company of Canada, Limited, a subsidiary of Ford Motor Co., and served as its President from 2005 to January 2008. He is a 30 years veteran of automotive industry.

Amy Meyer

VP – Kohler Operating System and Supply Chain

Kohler Co.

Amy Meyer (Adams) is Vice President of Kohler Operating Systems at Kohler Co, where she is responsible for company-wide supply chain and manufacturing centers of excellence. Included in the Kohler Operating System (KOS) are Safety, Quality, Supply Chain, Continuous Improvement, Maintenance Systems, and Sustainability. Amy is focused on Operational Excellence and through KOS, enables the creation and distribution of durable knowledge throughout all global operations. In addition her responsibility for KOS, she leads three service based, global organizations for Kohler: The Chemical and Metallurgical Laboratory, the Machine Build and Process Automation Team, and the India Technical Center.
Amy joined Kohler in February 2009 as Vice President – Engineering, Kohler Engines where for five years she was responsible for global engineering and execution of product innovation for Kohler Engines.

Eric Pope

VP of Operations

US Synthetic

Eric Pope serves as vice president of operations at US Synthetic (USS), a leading provider of diamond solutions for the energy industry. Mr. Pope joined US Synthetic in 1990 as a machine operator, with a focus on processing diamond products. He has worked as a production manager, process engineer, and R&D engineer during his time at US Synthetic. In 2001, Mr. Pope worked as an on-site USS customer engineer at Halliburton. He later became the product manager over the USS diamond rock bit and percussion product lines in 2004.
Throughout his career, Mr. Pope has been a driving force behind US Synthetic’s move from a typical batch and queue manufacturing system to a world-class, lean manufacturing facility. As part the of senior leadership team since 2006, Mr. Pope has been instrumental in implementing lean training and techniques at every level of the organization. These efforts helped the company receive the world’s most prestigious award in 2011 for enterprise excellence, The Shingo Prize. Under Mr. Pope’s leadership, the company maintains a strong focus on empowering employees and encouraging continuous improvement. This focus helped the company implement more than 32,000 employee-sponsored improvements in 2011. As a result, product innovation has increased and USS customers have been better served with improved delivery times, decreased inventory, and superior quality and performance. Lean improvements have allowed US Synthetic to grow at 23 percent annually since beginning the journey in 2005.
Mr. Pope holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering and a Master of Business Administration both from Brigham Young University.

Eric Pope

VP of Operations

US Synthetic

Eric Pope serves as vice president of operations at US Synthetic (USS), a leading provider of diamond solutions for the energy industry. Mr. Pope joined US Synthetic in 1990 as a machine operator, with a focus on processing diamond products. He has worked as a production manager, process engineer, and R&D engineer during his time at US Synthetic. In 2001, Mr. Pope worked as an on-site USS customer engineer at Halliburton. He later became the product manager over the USS diamond rock bit and percussion product lines in 2004.
Throughout his career, Mr. Pope has been a driving force behind US Synthetic’s move from a typical batch and queue manufacturing system to a world-class, lean manufacturing facility. As part the of senior leadership team since 2006, Mr. Pope has been instrumental in implementing lean training and techniques at every level of the organization. These efforts helped the company receive the world’s most prestigious award in 2011 for enterprise excellence, The Shingo Prize. Under Mr. Pope’s leadership, the company maintains a strong focus on empowering employees and encouraging continuous improvement. This focus helped the company implement more than 32,000 employee-sponsored improvements in 2011. As a result, product innovation has increased and USS customers have been better served with improved delivery times, decreased inventory, and superior quality and performance. Lean improvements have allowed US Synthetic to grow at 23 percent annually since beginning the journey in 2005.
Mr. Pope holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering and a Master of Business Administration both from Brigham Young University.

Ron Dunford

President

Schreiber US

Ron Dunford was President, Schreiber US. He spent over 30 years in the dairy industry with roles in Operations, Sales/Marketing, and General Management. Additionally, Ron is a member of the Schreiber Foods Board of Directors. In the food industry, he is a member of the Board of Directors of the International Dairy Foods Association, and also a member and officer of the Board of Directors of the National Cheese Institute.

Aubrey Jones

Sr. Director – Continuous Improvement Deployment

Ingredion Incorporated

Aubrey has over 30 years of experience in food, ingredient and consumer manufacturing companies. He began his career in engineering for a large food company and progressed to leading their corporate engineering. During that time he also worked in roles in product development, technology development and operations. There was significant focus on not only capital engineering, but also incremental and step change efficiency improvements through both technology and process improvements. He currently leads a very successful continuous improvement implementation for a $6B corporation, where he is a primary architect and driver, along with a skilled and motivated global team, delivering business critical results.

Amy Meyer

VP – Kohler Operating System and Supply Chain

Kohler Co.

Amy Meyer (Adams) is Vice President of Kohler Operating Systems at Kohler Co, where she is responsible for company-wide supply chain and manufacturing centers of excellence. Included in the Kohler Operating System (KOS) are Safety, Quality, Supply Chain, Continuous Improvement, Maintenance Systems, and Sustainability. Amy is focused on Operational Excellence and through KOS, enables the creation and distribution of durable knowledge throughout all global operations. In addition her responsibility for KOS, she leads three service based, global organizations for Kohler: The Chemical and Metallurgical Laboratory, the Machine Build and Process Automation Team, and the India Technical Center.
Amy joined Kohler in February 2009 as Vice President – Engineering, Kohler Engines where for five years she was responsible for global engineering and execution of product innovation for Kohler Engines.

Rosemary Coates

Executive Director

Reshoring Institute

Eric Pope

VP of Operations

US Synthetic

Eric Pope serves as vice president of operations at US Synthetic (USS), a leading provider of diamond solutions for the energy industry. Mr. Pope joined US Synthetic in 1990 as a machine operator, with a focus on processing diamond products. He has worked as a production manager, process engineer, and R&D engineer during his time at US Synthetic. In 2001, Mr. Pope worked as an on-site USS customer engineer at Halliburton. He later became the product manager over the USS diamond rock bit and percussion product lines in 2004.
Throughout his career, Mr. Pope has been a driving force behind US Synthetic’s move from a typical batch and queue manufacturing system to a world-class, lean manufacturing facility. As part the of senior leadership team since 2006, Mr. Pope has been instrumental in implementing lean training and techniques at every level of the organization. These efforts helped the company receive the world’s most prestigious award in 2011 for enterprise excellence, The Shingo Prize. Under Mr. Pope’s leadership, the company maintains a strong focus on empowering employees and encouraging continuous improvement. This focus helped the company implement more than 32,000 employee-sponsored improvements in 2011. As a result, product innovation has increased and USS customers have been better served with improved delivery times, decreased inventory, and superior quality and performance. Lean improvements have allowed US Synthetic to grow at 23 percent annually since beginning the journey in 2005.
Mr. Pope holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering and a Master of Business Administration both from Brigham Young University.

Miguel Corcio

Sr. Manager – Smart Manufacturing & Technical Projects

Clean Energy Smart Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CESMII)

Greg Radzinski

Continuous Improvement Manager

Becton Dickinson (BD)

David Moore

Director, Innovation Strategy

Zero Nine Design & Development

As a kid David was constantly designing and building products, fdeck chairs, drafting tables, ski racks, airplane tires and a turntable that could play both sides of a record without flipping it over. All in his father’s garage before the age of eighteen.
His first design degree was in Corporate Identity and Media, then attending the prestigious Art Center College of Design earning a BS in Industrial Design. In 2001 he co-founded San Francisco based Zero Nine Design, a design consultancy and visionary incubator combining next generation technologies and consumer products with alternative business models creating markets wherever possible. Clients include; Verb Surgical, Inc., Google, SRI Intl. Robotics, Panasonic, DARPA, Nike, Disney, Universal Studios. SRI Intl. Bio-Sensing, Philips Medical, Stanford University.
David is a guest instructor for Stanford Engineering’s Design Program, guest lecturer at UC Berkeley and San Francisco State University’s MBA program.

Lorinda Lewis, PhD

Sr. Director, Continuous Improvement

Oshkosh Defense

Lorinda Lewis is responsible for leading and fostering a culture that embraces continuous improvement in the Defense business segment of Oshkosh Corporation. Her role is to deploy the corporate operating system through coaching, guiding, teaching, facilitating, and influencing a transformational culture change to drive process improvements through the use of lean principles, concepts, and tools.
Prior to this role, Lorinda was the Director of Parts Support and DLA Programs for Oshkosh Defense where she was responsible for all aftermarket parts sales, to include planning, parts sales administration, and DLA business development and customer relationship management. Ms. Lewis’s team administered the parts management and support for the Oshkosh Defense Army, Marines, International, and Joint program offices as well as the dealer and reseller programs.
Ms. Lewis joined Oshkosh Defense in May, 2009 after a 20 year Air Force career. She has experience in a wide range of logistics processes at field, headquarters, retail, and wholesale levels.
Ms. Lewis earned a Ph.D. in Business from Northcentral University, a Doctorate in Quality Systems from American Meridian University, a Master’s of Science in Administration from Central Michigan University, and a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management from University of Maryland University College.

Eric Pope

VP of Operations

US Synthetic

Eric Pope serves as vice president of operations at US Synthetic (USS), a leading provider of diamond solutions for the energy industry. Mr. Pope joined US Synthetic in 1990 as a machine operator, with a focus on processing diamond products. He has worked as a production manager, process engineer, and R&D engineer during his time at US Synthetic. In 2001, Mr. Pope worked as an on-site USS customer engineer at Halliburton. He later became the product manager over the USS diamond rock bit and percussion product lines in 2004.
Throughout his career, Mr. Pope has been a driving force behind US Synthetic’s move from a typical batch and queue manufacturing system to a world-class, lean manufacturing facility. As part the of senior leadership team since 2006, Mr. Pope has been instrumental in implementing lean training and techniques at every level of the organization. These efforts helped the company receive the world’s most prestigious award in 2011 for enterprise excellence, The Shingo Prize. Under Mr. Pope’s leadership, the company maintains a strong focus on empowering employees and encouraging continuous improvement. This focus helped the company implement more than 32,000 employee-sponsored improvements in 2011. As a result, product innovation has increased and USS customers have been better served with improved delivery times, decreased inventory, and superior quality and performance. Lean improvements have allowed US Synthetic to grow at 23 percent annually since beginning the journey in 2005.
Mr. Pope holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering and a Master of Business Administration both from Brigham Young University.